Rishi Sunak has stormed past the competition and is set to be Britain’s first non-White prime minister who is likely to take his oath on the Bhagvad Gita.

By early afternoon it was clear he was coasting to victory with more than 190 Conservative MPs – or well over half the party –declaring in his favour. His last rival, Penny Mordaunt, dropped out of the battle even after insisting till the last moment that she had more than 100 backers.

“I am glad I live in a country where an Asian Brit can rise to the highest office. It’s something to be proud of,” Labour MP Jess Philip said after it became clear that Sunak was heading for a huge win.

The pound sterling rose when it became clear that Sunak was far out in front of his rivals and that former prime minister Boris Johnson had dropped out of the contest.

Sunak faced a risk till the last moment because under the rules of the contest the candidates who received the support of more than 100 MPs could move forward to the second stage of the contest where they could seek the support of around 160,000 Conservative Party members around the country. Mordaunt’s exit has ended that threat.

In August, Sunak had the backing of more Conservative MPs but he lost because the Conservative Party members voted strongly against him. This time too disgraced former Prime Minister Boris Johnson was confident of winning if the vote went to the members around the country. Even Mordaunt was confident she would sail past Sunak if the vote went to the members.

About the racist element in the battle, journalist and writer Sathnam Sanghera commented today: “Rishi Sunak’s campaign is a classic illustration of white privilege: he’s plainly the most qualified but keeps having to compete with woeful white candidates.”

But by early afternoon, most of the party’s senior leaders had lined up behind Sunak. Former home secretary Priti Patel who had supported Johnson till he pulled out, today declared she was backing Sunak. Similarly, Suella Braverman, who resigned as home secretary last week, also came out for Sunak. Nadhim Zahawi, who was briefly chancellor of the exchequer in the dying days of the Johnson government, switched to backing Sunak today after the former prime minister dropped out of the race.

Significantly, early today, the far-to-loony-right-wing European Research Group declared it was split on who to support and would not be voting as a group.

In The Spectator magazine, editor Fraser Nelson enumerated several reasons why Sunak was a good choice for the job. Said Nelson: “At a time when market literacy is at a premium, we’d have the most market-literate PM in history.”

He added: “Gordon Brown was regarded as a details man because he read original academic papers. Sunak had a Bloomberg terminal on his desk to follow the metrics from which such papers are drawn.” Nelson also quoted Treasury (finance ministry) officials saying about Sunak: “No matter how detailed the briefing, he’s more on top of the issue than they are. We need that right now.”

Sunak, 42, has risen meteorically in politics and only entered parliament for the first time in 2015. He won the seat in Richmond, Yorkshire which has always been regarded as a very parochial part of the country where outsiders get a cool reception.

In the last few months, Sunak came under intense attack because his billionaire wife Akshata Murthy claimed what’s called ‘non-dom’ status under which she pays lower taxes in the UK. Akshata is the daughter of Infosys founder N. R. Narayana Murthy. She and Sunak met when they were studying at Stanford.

The former chancellor of the exchequer was also disliked strongly by Johnson supporters because of the perception that he stabbed the former prime minister in the back and caused Johnson’s downfall by resigning at a crucial moment.

Sunak reckons he gained a new perspective on life and the world of business by studying at Stanford, surrounded by tech start-ups. In a speech recently, he talked about the influence living in California had on him. “I studied and worked in California, surrounded by Silicon Valley start-ups, living and breathing that entrepreneurial culture,” pointed out. He added crucially: “If we want to drive up future growth and productivity, then the highest of the three priorities should be to ensure the UK economy is the most innovative in the world.

Soon after graduating Sunak joined Goldman Sachs. Students who were at university with him told The Times he had always appeared more interested in finance and banking than in politics.

Sunak’s family story is also slightly different from the normal immigrant one in the sense that his grandmother was the first person who headed to Britain and worked as a bookkeeper and then sent for her husband and three children one year later. Sunak’s parents were born in Tanzania and Kenya.

Like true immigrants, both Sunak’s parents worked hard to be able to send him as a day-scholar to Winchester, one of the country’s leading public schools. His mother ran a pharmacy and his father was a doctor. The young Sunak frequently spent weekends helping out at his mother’s pharmacy.

Though Sunak has faced an element of racism during his race to the top, there’s no question that his rise shows just how much Britain has changed in the last 60 years. In 1968 Enoch Powell made his famous "Rivers of Blood" speech, which denounced immigration. More recently, in 1989, cabinet minister Norman Tebbit suggested a ‘loyalty test’ under which immigrants should be asked which cricket team they supported: England or India/Pakistan. Tebbit himself admits those days are now long gone.

Most recently, the last three chancellors of the exchequer – even if they had brief terms – have been non-white. Sunak was followed by Iraqi-born Nadhim Zahawi for a few weeks before Johnson resigned. He was then followed by Kwasi Kwarteng, who attempted to introduce far-reaching changes in the UK economy but then found himself sacked by his ally and friend Liz Truss.

Similarly, the current foreign secretary who represents Britain internationally is the non-white James Cleverly. And the last two home secretaries have been Indian-origin women Braverman and Priti Patel.

Of course, Sunak won’t be the first Indian-origin prime minister in Europe. Leo Varadkar was the Irish taoiseach or prime minister and he is currently the taniste or deputy prime minister. And Portugal’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa’s family was originally from Goa.